UFO believers are a large, stable, mainstream slice of the American public

Evidence

Two aspects of these fi gures are particularly striking. First, they have remained astonishingly stable over a fi fty-year period. What might have been an early Cold War fad clearly came to occupy a semipermanent niche in the American psyche. Second, the level of belief was not only relatively stable; it was extraordinarily high, regardless of when the survey was taken or by which polling organization. Even if one compensates for problems of sampling or the wording of questions, tens of millions of Americans accept the reality of UFOs. In a survey of 765 members of the UFO community, Brenda Denzler found her respondents to be anything but “fringe.” They were predominantly white, male, middle-class college graduates, with incomes just slightly below the national median. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 408

Categorization

• CANDY: Tens of millions of ordinary middle-class Americans believing in UFOs across fifty years is a great elevator fact.
• XREF: connects to: Nearly half of Americans have long believed UFOs actually exist. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 404; Nearly half of Americans believed in UFOs half a century after first sightings. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 405; UFO belief stayed remarkably stable and high across five decades of polling. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 408 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• UFO belief stayed remarkably stable and high across five decades of polling. #corroborates (0.95) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 408
• More Americans believe in UFOs than accept evolution or deep Earth age. #corroborates (0.85) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 825
• Majority and prestigious endorsement boosts spread of supernatural beliefs #expands (0.70)